The Herald
by Wingman201
Summary: When a new Klingon warbird is stolen by Federation operatives, a small fleet of Klingon ships mobilize to capture it.The odds look grim for the U.S.S. Herald, who locates the warbird. Can the Herald hold out until reinforcements arrive? ONESHOT


Captain's log

Stardate: 2209.4

This is Captain Rachel O'Shaughnessy of the _U.S.S. Herald_. We have been given orders by Starfleet to patrol the Klingon border. There have been multiple border skirmishes between our two…empires, in a way. All of the skirmishes have been instigated by the klingons and both sides have lost ships. The _Herald _has an extensive reputation of fighting Klingons. Several years ago, during a patrol mission on these very borders we are protecting today. Three Klingon K'tinga cruisers attacked us. Thanks to my extraordinary crew, we not only destroyed the three Klingon ships, but we emerged with minimal crew casualties.

The men and women who operate this ship most likely saved it without my leadership.

At the sensors, Lieutenant Neill. Neill has an extensive history of detecting anomalies in nebulas and gravitic fluctuations have saved the ship from being torn apart more times than I can count. At the tactical station sits Ensign Johnson. Johnson's tactical brilliance in shield positioning and firing phasers minimized crew casualties on the _Herald_ dozens of times. Covering the communications console is Lieutenant Foster. Foster has picked up transmissions on the most unused frequencies of almost all languages. His detection of a Klingon war strategy alerted us of the Klingon attack on us that made us known. At the helm is my first officer, Commander Shada, an Andorian. Shada and I have been good friends since our academy days. His knowledge on Andorian politics and diplomatic customs has earned him my trust as the helm, first officer, and diplomatic supervisor. Ensign Greenburg sits at the navigation console. Thanks to him, we have discovered ways to get from one side of the Alpha Quadrant to the other in under an hour. Although we use these formulas often, Starfleet does not approve of these and does not distribute the formulas to other ships. Science station is covered by Vulcan Ensign Sije. Her calm demeanor has usually spread to the rest of the bridge during a stressful situation, even for her. Sije has curly long brown hair.

A regular day. Not much happening.

End Captain's log

The only thing unusual happening today was silence all across the bridge. Usually there was constant conversation, even laughter every couple of minutes. I heard beeps at Lt. Neill's station. His fingers were flying across the console. "Captain," he said to me, "There is a Klingon war bird heading to our position."

"How long until the Klingon ship comes out of warp?"

"Right…about…now, captain."

Right on time. The Klingon warbird came out of warp, directly to bow and glaring angrily at us.

"Have they locked weapons on us?" I asked

"No, captain, they haven't" Neill replied.

"Foster, hail them"

"Aye."

Fingers clacked across consoles all around the bridge. Foster was the first to speak after the silence. "Captain, hailing frequency op-"

"Captain, weapons are locked on us!" Neill said a small amount of stress in his voice.

"Battle stations. Red alert. Raise shields. Return fire only if fired upon."

"Aye, captain." Johnson said casually, sweeping a black strand from her long hair.

The view screen lit up with the light of disruptor cannons from the Klingon ship. "Open fire," I ordered. Bright lines of yellow lanced from the _Herald _to the enemy ship. "Helm, hard to port. Johnson, prepare for a starboard broadside." Confirmations filled the bridge. "Captain, starboard phasers ready to fire." Johnson declared. I was just going to give the order when Foster notified us of the Klingon ship trying to hail us. Seeing, as this doesn't normally happen, I ordered the channel to be open.

Instead of a red and battle scarred Klingon, I saw a sweaty and stressed human. "H-Hullo" the man said smiling, his accent and bad teeth giving away his British origins. My eyebrow shot up a mile high. "Who are you and what are you doing commanding a Klingon war bird?" Sparks flew up around the English man and the hurried and stressed voices filled the background of the transmission. "My name is-" sparks showered just behind him, making him throw up his hands, a natural defense mechanism. "My name is Captain Reginald of Starfleet Intelligence. I assume that you have plenty of questions for me."

Stupid question. "Yeah, you got that right. How did you come to be in possession of that ship?"

"Well, it wasn't easy. Our first ship was a small towboat with a warp nacelle disguised as an overpowered impulse engine. The ship we are currently on is a new class of war bird, the prototype of its class and the only one in the galaxy. We hijacked it from the shipyards it was just to be launched from. After a series of random jumps, we beamed onto the ship and made for Federation space."

"If you're under Federation orders, then why attack us?"

"Our sensors reported a Klingon ship just on the edge of our range. We attacked you to appear Klingon to them. We apologize for any damage we have done."

"The _Herald_ is a _Freedom_-class starship. It'll take a lot more to take her down."

Ominous beeping came from Neill's post. "Captain, there are several Klingon ships on there way. They will be here at approximately 7:50, Earth time."

I checked my watch on the Captain's chair. The clock said 7:24. Good. That'll give us some time to request reinforcements.

I turned back to Reginald. "Are your warp engines operable?" I asked. After consulting one of his officers, Reginald said, "Yes, but our weapons are off-line. So are our shields." "I guess I'm to blame for that one." Johnson said with regret in her voice.

"We'll apologize later. Reginald, are there any starbases aware of your mission?"

"Why, yes. Starbase I-4."

"Ok, head for there. We'll send them a message alerting them of your presence and a request for reinforcements."

"Very good. We will see you after the battle. Farewell, Captain."

The transmission ended and a sense of awkwardness descended upon the crew. Sije was the first to speak. "Captain, should we trust them? Their story does seem logical, but is it true?" I turned to Neill. "Is the war bird of advanced design?"

"Let me check. OK, here is the typical war bird. Schematics are on the screen. Now based on the scans I ran during the transmission, here are the schematics of the alleged new war bird. As you can see, the maximum warp factor is higher, the weapons and shields can do and take more damage, and the overall ship is twenty meters longer. Either my scanners are broken or they're telling the truth. And I check my sensors every hour."

It looks like that they are telling the truth. "Shada, is there a Captain Reginald in Starfleet?" I asked him.

His fingers clacked the database. "Yes ma'am, there is. Bringing his image and specs onscreen…now." The image checked out, and so did the birthplace. He was all checked out. His record and what he said was confirmed by the other. "Crew, damage report."

"Weapons are a little overloaded, and shields are a bit banged up, but nothing fifteen minutes can't fix." Foster called from his station, his vibrant red hair noticeable enough to spot a platypus among ducks.

All eyes turned on me. "Your orders, ma'am?" Shada asked me.

I blanked out. "I'm sorry?" I asked.

"Your orders, Captain?" Shada asked again.

"Ah yes," I said, "Activate repair teams to fix and temporarily power up our weapons, shields and anything else that was damaged during the fight. The time is 7:25. Be back here in twenty minutes. You are dismissed." Everyone got up and left. I followed Neill out the door.

"Hey" I said.

"Hey" Neill replied.

"Good job detecting that Klingon ship and the fleet heading here."

"All in a day's work." He ran a hand through his short brown hair.

"You know, I've always wanted to be a sensors officer."

"Well, maybe we could swap places for a day."

"That might be arranged."

We walked a bit more when Neill's cabin came up, and he bade me a good night until later. I stood outside his cabin for a while longer, then turned and just started walking. I was unnaturally shaky. I passed the teams working on the shields and phasers, and gave them a smile to improve morale. They liked it and went to work harder. I don't know why I was this uneasy before a battle. I was usually the epitome of calm and collection. I was so agitated. I could not be this way in front of the crew. I returned to my cabin to clear my head. After a few minutes, I returned to the bridge, where I saw Neill sitting at his console, fingers clacking furiously away at his keyboard. I approached him.

"Neill, what's wrong?" I asked him.

"I programmed my sensors station to configure how many Klingon ships are on their way," he replied, not looking up. "If the ships registered more than five, the computer would send my communicator a call, which means that we might have a fight on our hands, with seven klingon ships on their way." His fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard.

"Have we gotten any word that reinforcements are on their way?" I asked him. "Just a minute. We have word that a _Constitution_-class, a _Necromancer_-class, and…a _Miranda_-class are on their way. This should be a tough fight, with four ships against seven. We got the message two minutes ago. They said they would be here in ten,"

I checked my watch. 7:44. "How long until the Klingons get here?" "Six minutes, captain." Damn. We'll need to survive for about two minutes before our reinforcements arrive. I flipped open my communicator. "Captain O'Shaughnessy to Sije," Sije replied almost immediately.

"Yes, Captain?"

"What are the odds of us against seven Klingon ships?"

"About seven thousand to one."  
Good. I like a challenge.

"Thank you Sije."

"You're welcome, captain."

"Neill, how long until the enemy fleet arrives?"

"About five minutes, ma'am."

I closed the communicator.

"Captain?" Neill asked me.

"Yes?"

"Are people on the bridge going to…" he swallowed "…die?"

"I hope not. The best we can hope for is either some injuries or non-scathed. But our men dying…I can't assure anything when it comes to that."

The doors opened and the rest of the bridge crew stepped in. I gave Neill a pat on the back and returned to my chair. Everyone strapped in and looked at me. "Shields and weapons are fifteen percent above normal operating standards." Johnson said. "Good" I replied. I opened the ship wide transmission. "Attention crew, this is your captain speaking. We will be seeing action within five minutes. I want all weapons locked, loaded, and ready to go by then. All departments must be at battle stations by the time the alarm sounds. Trust me, you'll hear it. Captain out." "

"Johnson, is there anything you can do to give us some extra shield power?"

"I can divert some from the nacelles to forward, but seeing as we're going to turn a lot, that would be unwise."

"Would there be any part of the ship that won't be seeing action?"

"Maybe…the bottom of the hull."

"Reroute all power from the entire hull except the navigational deflector. We'll extend its repellent power to protect the whole hull, if need be."

Sije spoke up. "Captain, I'm not sure the navigational deflector would be enough to repel disruptor beams the strength that klingons use." She twirled her curly brown hair as she sad this. I wonder if Vulcans really did do that or if it was just her.

"Will it be enough to diminish its power?" I ask.

"Maybe captain, but it won't be significantly."

"Some's better than none. Do it, please. Neill, how long till those Klingons?"

"About three minutes, ma'am,"

"Work on trying to boost our shields and weapons."

Uneasiness filled the bridge. We'd never been against these kinds of odds before. Three K'tinga cruisers, sure. But seven ships... sounds a little risky.

"Klingon fleet arriving in," Neill warned, "five...four...three...two..."

Three warbirds appeared.

"Fire phasers." I ordered.

The viewscreen had to be polarized from the blinding power from the phasers. Those shots would have definitely crippled the Klingons' shields. A torpedo silences one of them.

"Fore shields are going down captain." Johnson warns.

"Transfer all non-essential power to forward shields. We'll last."

"A raptor coming out of warp, captain." Sije warned.

My comm unit in my chair beeped. "Captain here."

"Captain, this is Ensign Olson" Olson started, "The lighting in Deck E just went out. Was this expected?"

"We need all the power we can get right now, Ensign, even if it means lighting.."

"Aye captain, just checking. Olson out."

A panel exploded, showering the deck with sparks.

"Neill, how long till our reinforcements?"

"Sixty seconds and counting, captain." Neill replies.

Another warbird vanishes in yellow and orange.

"Voq'uv class entering subspace, ma'am," Shada announces, just as his console explodes and sends him sprawling to the ground.

"Shada!" I yell.

Those ships had better get here fast.

Timing couldn't have been better. All three ships came out of warp at exactly the same time. The _Miranda _and_ Necromancer_ ships, not wasting any time, began firing on the remaining ships.

The _Necromancer_ class ship, _U.S.S. Gallant_, is a newer ship with a triangulated saucer and instead of two, but four warp nacelles. This is one of the tanks of the Federation, having over ten phaser arrays, able to take on Klingons any day.

The _Constitution-_class hailed us. Sitting in the captain's chair was a man of early thirties, with a bridge crew of pretty young years as well. The navigation man looked like he was in his late teens.

"This is James T. Kirk of the _U.S.S. Enterprise_. We have come to assist you. You can stand down and let the _Gallant _and _Hawk_ take care of the Klingons."

"With all due respect Captain Kirk, we started this battle, we're going to see it through."

A smug smile appeared on Kirk's face. "Very well, I'll send engineering teams to repair any damaged systems you got over there. Kirk out."

I feel a little relieved. "Captain to CMO Parsons," I said into my personal comm unit in my chair, "we have someone injured. Get up here."

"Aye, captain. At once." Parsons replied.

Neill spoke up. "Captain, the rest of the fleet is coming out of warp! It's two K'tingas!"

This might be the hammer to the nail. The two K'tingas definitely could take on the _Hawk _and _Gallant._

"Johnson, what is the condition of our shields and weapons?"

"Shields are critical and our weapons are still holding, but we're losing power on decks B thro-" Her report was interrupted when her console explodes in her face.

"Dammit!" I spat. "We've got to end this quickly! Fire phasers and torpedoes! Everything we've got!"

A dozen torpedoes shot from the neck of the ship. Four lances of pure energy beamed to the K'tingas. One of he enemy ships exploded instantly.

"_U.S.S. Herald _to_ Gallant _and_ Hawk_. We've got to pull out of this fight, so we'll leave it to you."

"Just sit back and relax, _Herald_." A cocky voice sounded.

The _Enterprise_ flew perpendicular in front of us, acting as a shield for the wounded _Herald_. The _Hawk, Gallant, and Enterprise_ finished off the last Klingon ship in no time at all.

Foster turned to me. "The _Enterprise_ is hailing us again, ma'am."

"Onscreen," I command.

Kirk appeared cocky n his captain's chair, having just won a battle.

Seeing the carnage, Kirk's expression dropped. "Do you need a medical team over there, Captain?"

"It is not necessary, but it would be welcome." I reply.

"All right." he keyed a button in his chair. "Bones, get together a med team to beam over to the _Herald._"

Today is a sad day. Two of my bridge officers are dying. The force of the mini-explosion that forced Johnson out of her chair caused some almost permanent nerve damage to her shoulders and chest. However, Shada's console explosion nearly killed him immediately, and it will take a miracle for him to survive.

"I'm sorry, Rachel." Kirk said.

I didn't reply. I was too overcome by grief. I could hear the doctors trying to save Shada. It didn't matter. If one died, they all did.

"Listen, Rachel, if you want, I'll handpick your replacement crew members."

"It doesn't matter." I said with sadness flowing through my voice. "I will resign from Starfleet. Those people have been with me ever since I accepted command."

"Come on, Rachel, what good will that do?"

"I couldn't possibly command another starship without them beside me. I just can't."

"You're Captain Rachel of the _U.S.S. Herald_. She's a _Freedom-_class. She's one of the best ships in the fleet. She's based on one of the founding principles of the Federation."

"The _Enterprise_ has seen action no other ship can ever experience."

"All action is the same. There is no larger or smaller scale of action."

After that, I just broke down into tears. Sobs flowed through me with the force of a hurricane. Kirk took me into his arms. I didn't think about anything else but Johnson and Shada.

After a bit, a doctor with blood stained into his gown, came approaching us. He stopped in front of Kirk and me. I held back my sobs, but I had a feeling they would continue. "It took a damn long while, Jim" the doctor said, "But We've managed to get Johnson's nerves to work. She's going to be all right."

"Thanks, Bones."

That's Dr. McCoy?

"This is all going on your bill, you know Jim." He said, pointing his finger at Kirk.

"I'll buy you a drink later, Bones."

"Ya damn better buy me one."

The doctor walked off. I was overcome with joy. However, it was short lived. Shada was still dying. Kirk noticed my sadness and called Dr. McCoy back.

"Hey Bones, I'll buy you a whole refrigerator full of whiskey if you try and fix someone else."

"Depends on whom."

"The Andorian down there. He's down in that room over there. He's in critical condition. See what you can do."

"Make it vodka."

"Done."

Muttering, Dr. McCoy went back into the room and started barking orders at the nurses.

"Bones is going to try and save Shada. Watch, he'll be back on his feet in no time."

I watched Dr. McCoy operate on Shada. Something happened that made him swear, and that made me laugh.

"See? Look what they're missing, Rachel. That smile will brighten up the whole galaxy."

"Thank you, James."

Seven weeks later, with the _Herald _repaired and raring to go, I stepped into the bridge with Shada, Johnson, Sije, Greenburg, Foster, and Neill. I settled into the familiar captain's chair with a Starfleet Medal of Commendation on my shirt. That feels good, I thought. "Captain," Foster said, "Spacedock reports ready for launch."

"Weapons and shields on standby,"

"Sensors are ready."

"All scanners are within normal operating standards."

"Maneuvering thrusters and impulse engines check out."

"Communications are green."

"Navigation instruments are ready for use, Captain."

My communicator beeped. I answered it. "Captain O'Shaughnessy here,"

A familiar voice came on the other end. "Hey, Rachel."

"Jim," I replied, "What do you need?"

"There's some things going on near the Federation-Klingon-"

"Oh no," I interrupted, "No way in hell am I going back to that border."

A laugh sounded on the other end. "I thought you would say that. What about the Federation-Romulan border?"

Romulans. Never dealt with them before. "Hang on a second, Jim." Turning to no one in particular, I asked, "How would we fare against a Romulan warbird?"

"The chances of the _Herald _destroying a current Romulan warbird are 94%, Captain." Sije replied

"I think they would get their asses kicked, Captain." Johnson said. "I've served against Romulans before, and we could probably take out about five warbirds ourselves."

I turned back to my communicator. "Kirk you've got yourself a deal. Where?"

"My communications officer is sending you the coordinates now. You should receive them any second."

Just after he said that, the forward view screen read, "_MESSAGE RECEIVED"_

"That shouldn't be too much for you now, would it?" Kirk asked, a little

proud-ness in his voice. "Neill?" I asked

"The coordinates received show a heated border skirmish between Federation and Romulan vessels."

I turned back to my communicator. "We'll be there, Jim."

"Glad to hear it, Rachel."

10

10


End file.
